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'I'm not sure Bastareaud was a smart signing... you want proper value and Robshaw ticks that box'
USA Eagles boss Gary Gold believes San Diego Legion have made the “perfect signing” by convincing Chris Robshaw, the former England captain, to join Major League Rugby after his illustrious career with Harlequins in the Gallagher Premiership finishes later this year.
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Unlike Rugby United New York’s decision to bring in an overweight ex-France midfielder Mathieu Bastareaud, whose short-lived MLR stint ended with the centre joining Lyon in April, Gold suggested the arrival of Robshaw on a two-year deal at Legion can have significant benefits for the American league and its ambitious expansion plans.
MLR are aiming to be a genuine alternative to Japan and signing Robshaw, who won 66 England caps and led his country 43 times – including at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, is a major statement of intent.
Robshaw will head to California when he completes a short-term extension that will see him help Harlequins, whom he skippered to 2012 Premiership glory, finish their delayed season which is due to restart in August.
“It is critically important for the MLR to sign a player like Chris Robshaw,” said Gold to RugbyPass after it emerged that the 33-year-old flanker will join Legion, the Californian-based club whose squad includes Ma’a Nonu, the double World Cup-winning All Black centre.
Heading to America 🇺🇸 https://t.co/hrutqh9ihi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 17, 2020
“Chris is such a good guy, a great rugby player and an inspiring leader in a critical position and it is a perfect signing. The USA guys at San Diego are going to get the chance to find out what it is like to play alongside Chris Robshaw and Ma’a Nonu and that will be a wonderful experience.
“Neither Chris or Ma’a are past their sell-by date and have a huge amount of value to add. It will enhance the value of the MLR. I remember Martin Johnson being asked about Josh Kronfeld joining Leicester and concerns about an influx of foreign players into England.
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“He said it was a critical balance but that they needed to be playing week in, week out with players of the quality of Kronfeld and Joel Stransky because there could be so much to learn from them. Ma’a Nonu in San Diego and Tendai Mtawarira for Washington are also great signings but there have also been some bad ones where you pay over the odds for a guy well past his sell-by date and it doesn’t help the game.
“I have nothing against him, but I’m not sure Mathieu Bastareaud was a smart signing when you are so limited financially. If you spend that kind of money you want proper value and Chris Robshaw ticks that box.
“It’s a brilliant acquisition for San Diego and the players who will be playing alongside him. At Old Glory DC in Washington, those players were around Tendai, who had played over 100 times for the Springboks. Now the San Diego guys are going to play with a guy who captained England for four successful years.”
Earlier this month, Legion confirmed that former Scotland captain Scott Murray and USA Sevens legend Zack Test will be their new joint head coaches for 2021 after the 2020 campaign was halted just five games in due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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“Ultimately, you want MLR to become as fiercely competitive and as powerful as possible,” added Gold. “There are some good teams in Japan but there are still some question marks over whether the Japanese league is such a powerful one.
I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be joining the @SDLegion , in the @usmlr for the start of the 2020/2021 season.
Since its inception, the San Diego Legion have established themselves as one of the leading powerhouses of American Rugby.
📸 @themediabunker pic.twitter.com/wbJyDtNk2I— Chris Robshaw (@ChrisRobshaw) June 17, 2020
“Undoubtedly it is important for players like Robshaw, Mtawarira and Nonu to be seen to be choosing the MLR but there also has to be a management of expectation because we don’t have Japanese money in the US game.
“You counter that with the lifestyle and people do want to experience the USA. While I haven’t spoken to Chris, I did speak to Ma’a and it was something that was of interest to him. There is a huge amount of interest from South African guys who would like to try the MLR and some may even want to fulfil the qualification rule to play Test rugby.
“It is important that the MLR is seen as a rugby destination while accepting that you don’t want teams jam-packed with foreign players to the determent of the USA game.”
Make sure to read a fascinating insight into @ChrisRobshaw's childhood by @RugbyPass. Robshaw was visiting his old club @MightyWarl, at one of Gallagher’s grassroots #TrainWithYourHeroes sessions last week: https://t.co/IwCYBD3z3r
— Gallagher UK (@GallagherUK) March 18, 2019
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments